


The Horse and His Hylian

by CatKing_Catkin



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Early in Canon, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Guardians are terrifying, Harm to Animals, Horses, Introspection, Mild Hurt/Comfort, No Dialogue, Rescue, Short One Shot, Silent Protagonist, Social Anxiety, The worst is yet to come
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 21:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10929975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatKing_Catkin/pseuds/CatKing_Catkin
Summary: Link hasn't been back in the world for very long, and he's been down from the Great Plateau for even less time. But he's determined to save this world even if he barely remembers anything about it, even if he barely remembers how to talk to people at all. And he's determined, upon first setting out, to head straight to Hyrule Castle and make an end to this calamity.That particular determination doesn't survive his first encounter with a fully functional and terrifyingly mobile Guardian. Fortunately for Link, he makes a friend in the bargain that helps ensure he lives to fight another day, and helps carry him back in the right direction.





	The Horse and His Hylian

**Author's Note:**

> This fic takes place in the area around and a bit north of Riverside Stable and Wahgo Katta shrine. Link hasn't even made it through the Dueling Peaks for the first time, at this point, just as I hadn't when this little moment happened in my game!
> 
> Yeah, it was basically this encounter that led to me discovering that I could actually tame horses in this game. I had no idea, when first setting out. I didn't even realize it when I was leading the horse back to the stables - I just wanted to leave it somewhere safe.
> 
> But what a magical discovery that was.

Link did not feel very much like a hero right now. He mostly felt cold, wet, exhausted, and generally miserable. Even without the dark clouds overhead and the rain coming down in thick, fat, splashing drops, he knew the sun must have set hours ago.

Rationally, he knew he could have rested the night at the stable back up the road. Perhaps he should have. Yet he hadn’t known at the time that there would be such a fierce storm coming later. More to the point, he hadn’t liked the idea of staying in an enclosed space with so many people all breathing and talking and jostling and _being_. Up on the plateau there had been only the old man and the forest spirits. Once he’d cleared the monsters out, it had been peaceful. The world below was anything but, and the people were part of the reason why.

It wasn’t their fault. He knew that. They were just trying to make their way in this broken world, the same as he was. Even so, being around people was still taking some getting used to. Maybe he’d been good at it, before the calamity. Maybe one day he would be again. For now, it was just easier to keep moving on towards the castle in the distance. Hyrule Castle was a darker blot against a black night sky, one that was only occasionally lit by its own malevolent glow. Link knew he wouldn’t get lost on the way even in this awful weather.

Rhoam had advised him against this, of course. Build up your strength, he’d said. Find allies, he’d said. Link didn’t see where they had that kind of time. Calamity Ganon had been building his strength for a hundred years. Surely even the princess, however powerful she was, wouldn’t be able to keep him at bay for much longer. He would go, he would see the destruction for himself, and he would make a plan from there.

At least, that had been his plan upon first setting out from the plateau, upon first passing by the stables. The weather was dampening his determination, letting doubts creep through in the same way that stray raindrops kept creeping under his doublet. Yet there was no point in turning back now. Maybe there would be shelter ahead. Maybe there would be a safe place where he could build a fire alone.

There wasn’t.

Link finished hiking up a hill, his legs burning from slogging through the marshy ground. A small valley stretched out below him, and it took him several seconds to fully process what he was seeing.

The Bokoblins were easy enough to recognize, of course. They’d proven crafty enough to give him plenty of trouble back on the plateau, with towers and bows and explosives. He’d still never imagined they were capable of riding horses.

Though “riding” was perhaps too generous a word for it. The two Bokoblins guided their poor mounts with thwacks from long sticks and tugs on their sodden manes, but it seemed to be doing the job in keeping them in a position to harry the boar they were hunting. All the while, both hunters and hunted had to dash and ride and dodge around the massive metallic monster patrolling in dizzying and erratic patterns throughout the area, its single eye bright as a beacon in the dark.

Link swallowed, his heart hammering painfully against his ribs. No matter how long he stared, the reality of the situation remained unchanged. It was a Guardian.

And it was _moving_.

His previous experience with the things outside the old man’s stories had been as rusted, half-buried husks in the ground that only came to life if you got too close and tracked you with that awful eye only until you ran far enough away. Yet this one had _legs_ – great, long, flexible legs that ended in enormously clawed feed that tore up the sodden ground as it wandered. If it saw him…

His desire to steal that boar carcass, his desire to help the horses, all faded from his mind, subsumed by fear even if they weren’t entirely extinguished. The Guardian was looking away. The Bokoblins were otherwise occupied. Now was his best chance.

Link made to turn and start back down the hill. Then his toes caught on a rock, slipped through the mud, and the next thing he knew he was tumbling down the hill instead in an ungainly, _noisy_ tangle of limbs and weapons.

He didn’t hear the Bokoblins’ cry of alarm as they were alerted. He didn’t need to. He heard the rapidly approaching hoofbeats instead. Link hastily tried to scramble back to his feet, slipping and stumbling and cursing. Could he take two Bokoblins at once? Could he take two Bokoblins on horseback at once? With a Guardian hot on their heels?

He tried to run, back the way he’d come. His past experience with Bokoblins told him that they lost interest easily. If he just got some distance while he could, maybe they’d give up. His decisions were made with those horses in mind. He didn’t want to hurt them just to kill their riders. He didn’t even like hunting his own food. Maybe later, he could come back and sort things out with a bow from a safe distance. Maybe later, if he lived that long.

The two sets of hoofbeats became one. The one set of hoofbeats didn’t stop. Link heard a horse whinny, much too close, and turned to see one rider racing down the hill towards him. There was nothing but open country around him. No way to escape if it didn’t want to let him.

Nothing for it, then. Link planted his feet and pulled the stolen club off his belt. He looked at the horse, with its mad, wild eyes and slavering mouth, and whispered an apology.

The Bokoblin swung its spear. Link ducked under the blow and used the momentum to add even more force to the blow he aimed at the horse’s side. It screamed at the impact, stumbling one way as its rider fell the other. The spear fell from its grasp. It reached out to reclaim it, and Link kicked the weapon aside. Then he swung his club at the Bokoblin’s head again and again and again and didn’t stop until the noise did and the club broke.

Then Link slumped, wheezing, resting his hands on his knees. Eventually, after what was probably only a few seconds but felt like hours, he stooped to gather up some of the fallen teeth. As he did so, his gaze found that of the horse, standing and panting where it had stumbled.

They stared at each other as Link considered what to do. He hadn’t needed a horse so far. He didn’t see why that should change in future. Yet it seemed a shame to leave this one out here in the rain.

The sight of a bright red dot of light skittering over the grass towards him decided the matter quickly enough. Link looked up wildly to see the Guardian clambering up over the hill, alight with glowing malice, its eye turning to focus on him.

No time to think. No time to doubt. Link swung himself onto the horse and kicked his ankles against its sides, remembering too late about the wound he had already inflicted. “ _Yah!”_ Fortunately, he remembered just in time to grab up two fistfuls of its mane to hold on with, because the horse bucked and screamed before tearing off away from the castle, fortunately away from the Guardian. Link heard the world explode behind him, and didn’t quite believe at first that he hadn’t died with it.

The Guardian was large enough, and its legs long enough, that he knew it could still catch them if it wanted to. His desperate hope was simply that the horse could take them both out of its patrol path in time. Fortunately, it was a hope that held fast. The Guardian fired two more shots, but the horse always moved too fast for it to focus on. Then at last, the sound of its pursuit stopped as they passed out of its range. Link couldn’t have said exactly when it happened. Once he realized that it had, he went to work trying to urge the horse to slow down. The beast fortunately proved more than willing to listen, without him needing to pull very hard on its mane.

Once they were limping through the storm at a slow and steady walk, Link finally lifted his head and looked around. The ripples on the surface of the water to his left indicated that he’d arrived back by the river. And in the distance, he could see lights. It could only be the stable he’d left hours ago.

Suddenly, spending a few awkward hours resting in a confined space with a lot of strangers didn’t seem so unpleasant anymore. Besides, it _was_ a stable. They would have places to keep a horse, wouldn’t they? The owners would certainly be better masters to it than the Bokoblins had been.

He owed this horse that much, for saving him.

Once he got it pointed towards the lights, the horse seemed to understand to keep going towards them. Link watched them bobbing slowly nearer like lazy fireflies and just tried to focus on staying upright and awake in his saddle, though his bones ached from weariness and cold. He was aware that the horse could have pitched him off at any time. Maybe it should have, in retaliation for him wounding it. Maybe the horse was just glad to be away from that nightmare, too.

He guided it behind the building, towards the pen where he remembered the goats grazing. It picked its way with surprising delicacy over the little bridge that crossed the stream. Then Link was forced to slide off its back to push the gate open for it. There was no risk of the goats escaping. They were all huddled under a hastily erected lean-to that had been moved within the pen for them. There didn’t seem to be any room for the horse, but the horse didn’t seem to care. It was busy making for the troughs instead. Link followed at a limp.

The horse let out a low whinny, and Link couldn’t blame it for the disappointed sound. The troughs were empty, the hay taken out at the threat of rain. Link felt a pang of sympathy, a stab of irrational guilt. Then he took what shelter he could in the shadow of the creature’s bulk and went digging through his pack. He had to have something.

He did. Link pulled out a lumpy bundle, which he unwrapped to reveal a few bright, only-slightly-bruised apples. He picked one up and held it up to his new companion. Horses didn’t seem like they ate meat. Maybe these would suffice. They certainly had for him, back when he’d first started this journey, back when the worst thing he’d ever done had been to snatch a baked apple away from an old man’s fireside.

Link needn’t have worried. The horse only had to look to see what he was holding before its head darted down to snatch the fruit from his hand, quick enough that he felt its lips close slightly over his fingertips to. He snatched his hand away with a startled gasp, but the horse took no notice – it simply crunched and chewed the apple so that juice dripped down its chin and onto Link’s head.

He looked at it, and then he laughed. He surprised himself at the sound, but Link couldn’t help it. It was such a ridiculous creature, really, but in that moment he loved it fiercely and against all logic it certainly didn’t seem to hate him. He fed it the other two apples, then petted its flank and ran a hand along its neck. “Shh, shh.” The horse surprised him in turn by draping its long neck across his shoulders and nuzzling his opposite cheek, making soft little whuffling sounds.

In the end, the goats proved willing to make room for the horse. It was more than happy to take that room, bedding down in the straw while favoring its injured side. Link petted its back, hugged it gently, then went inside to buy himself a bed for the night since there was no room left for him in the stable. Even if there was, it was due to the horse.

He didn’t even mean to ask the stablemaster about saddles the next day, only about medical treatment. But when the matter was brought up, as the man was fixing up a poultice for the pain, twenty rupees suddenly seemed a much better deal than they had yesterday. 


End file.
